How to turn off prompt to upgrade to Catalina Software Update notification?

Saw this on a JAMF board, tested it- and it worked! No more Catalina update showing.

 sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina"'

When you are ready to update:

sudo softwareupdate --reset-ignored

Full post: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/33505/ignore-catalina-upgrade-prompt-in-software-update

You can avoid the notification by simply downloading the installer. When the download is finished, do NOT install - instead, just quit (command + q) the installer. You will find it in your Applications folder. Since the app store/update process checks your hard drive for anything needed, it will see it there and will no longer notify you.

I wanted to keep the system preferences icon for easy access. I kept looking for a way to remove the red badge and found that replacing the systems preferences icon on the dock with its Alias will remove the red badge. The details are in the link below, but the "solution" is super easy and works!

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/371986

It was pointed out that I had an extra ' in the original post.

 sudo softwareupdate --ignore "macOS Catalina" is the command to run.

It won't clear the flag in system preferences either.

The remedy that I am referring to is secondary clicking on the System Preferences icon in the dock and choosing:

remove from dock.

Sorry, I cannot locate it on demand; can say however, that I recall reading that Apple notifications can not be controlled as the notification alerts/badges on other applications can be, at SysPref>Notifications options.

Perhaps another participant has also read this, to confirm it; or you can comb that place and all the links to that topic in the 'Help' tab to see if you find this information directly yourself; or google it perhaps.

(I imagine that anyone who might also have read this info would not be following this Q&A though.)

My 'solution' is to remove Sys Pref access from the dock so I don't have to see the badge, and to enter SysPref through Launchpad (which is very quick!) or at the Apple icon > SysPref.

Happy sailing.

Oops, if it let me edit my typo- I would!

The discussion on the Jamf page also says that the red 1 won't go away. Annoying, but not all users have the System Preferences in the dock. And while we have a corporate block, it doesn't stop it from showing in the SW update pane.

I will have to test the download the installer at home, I downloaded it on my corporate Mac to confirm that our block was working.

I tried this but it did not work, I have the Install file in applications but the update flag remains, and if I go to updates I am still asked to update to Catalina.

Like many others I do not wish to upgrade, I have just removed the system update icon from the dock because i find the red indicator distracting.

It seems to me that Apple has not recognised that there will be users that will not, for various reasons, wish to upgrade and there should have had an option built in to the app store to reject the upgrade.

Also true, but what makes Apple who it is, has to do with only exposing so many possibilities to the user, and keeping those to what is absolutely necessary in order to "keep it simple" (for better and for worse, admittedly)...anything more than that requires "tinkering" by means of tools like Terminal.

But I agree wholeheartedly that something as basic as turning off upgrade notifications to a new generation of the operating system should be ignorable with something as simple as a checkmark next to "Ignore this new version"...basta!

Please see SysPref>Notifications: where it specifically indicates that Apple notifications, including the badges that announce them can not be removed.

And your user account definitely has admin rights, as determined insider the Users preferences pane?

would you mind pasting the last 5 or so lines of your terminal session here?

Exactly. I'm willing to go to Catalina "IN DUE TIME"... when I have found, and adjusted my entire workflow to not rely on some legacy 32bit-only apps. That, and every x.0 launch is riddled with bugs that need a good many months to clean up (heck, Mojave is still riddled with them).

So, Apple really needs to pull head from arse and allow the "Ignore This Update" button/checkbox, OR a "Remind me in 6 months" button/checkbox.

I'm sick of their shove-it-in-your-face attitude with these updates. I guess they are copying Windows now?

My iOS12 device is doing this same nonsense about iOS13 (which is NOT ready by a long shot).